Media Evaluation - Question One.

QUESTION ONE.In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions on real media products?

In what ways does my media product use forms and conventions on real media products?

Body Language/Model: On my pop music magazine cover photo, my model Olivia has a pose which shows her hand on her hip as she looks at the camera. This is similar to Katy Perry’s pose in InStyle and they both show confidence and boldness which would appeal to my target audience of young women who may be looking for this in their role models. Like on the InStyle picture of Katy Perry, my model has pink hair which fits in with femininity within my target audience which is primarily female.

Headlines: On my pop music magazine cover, I did my headlines with alternating colours of purple and black so that the magazine seemed less boring and that the headline and description of the article were both separate. This is similar to the InStyle magazines headlines which alternate between light pink and black for the same reason. I chose to use purple over pink because it fit more with my colour scheme. Also, like on the InStyle cover and on many pop magazines, the headlines on my magazine fit around the model to make the magazine seem fuller.


Masthead: Both of the magazines shown, my own pop music magazine and Top Of The Pops, feature similar mastheads. They both have a pink font to fit in with the feminine ideas of the target audience and they both have curvy fonts which fit in with the idea of informality and youth. The font means that the magazine does not come across as too formal but it also appears to be finished and like it is a reputable magazine. It is important to look reputable and distinguished as it reflects on the content that is within the magazine.

Headline: Like on the Top Of The Pops magazine, my cover had a circle shape on the right-hand side which has a headline in the centre of it. It is a way of filling space on the magazine, adding colour and adding another headline. It also makes the magazine seem less formal and more abstract which relates to the age of my target audience which is primarily young people. The pink and purple of my circle shape relates back to the fact that my audience will be mostly female as these colours are stereotypically feminine.


Promotional Offer: Both of the magazines shown, my media product and the existing music magazine contents page, feature promotional offers giving away posters. Giveaways in a magazine means they are more likely to be bought by a potential consumer because they feel as though the magazine is rewarding and gives them something from buying it. As my target audience is younger females, the posters are a good way to target them as this age group are more likely to want to get posters than an older and more mature audience.

Background: Like on the existing pop magazine on the right, my media product had a white rectangular shape backed my a colourful background as the foundation of the contents page. The magazine contents page on the left has a pink square backing the white rectangle that all of the text is on while my background follows a similar idea with an abstract purple and pink paint splattered background. Once again, the colours chosen are to relate back to the idea of femininity and target my intended audience.


Title: In my media products contents page on the left, I chose the title ‘Inside This Week’ to be at the top of the page. Beside my magazine on the right, is an existing magazine that has chosen ‘Inside The Mag…’ to title its own contents page. I chose to use this title because it is common within pop music magazines which means that I am sticking to and using the conventions and forms of this genre. The colours, hot pink and white, are used on both magazines to fit with the colour schemes and make sure that the correct audience is targeted.

Layout: I chose to use boxed off sections to make it look more finished and fit the conventions and typical layouts of this music magazine genre. The layout is clear and ensures that the magazine is easy to navigate as if it is too complex, people are unlikely to buy it as they wont be able to find the articles they bought the magazine for. Also, because the targeted audience are teenagers to people in their early twenties, it allows them too see upfront that there is a lot of content within the magazine so that they don’t think the magazine will bore them.


Layout: The layout of the magazines have three obvious similarities; the main image takes up the space on the left of the double-page spread, the article is split in to three columns with alternating colours and the title of the magazine is at the top of the article. I chose the magazine on the right to base my magazine on and develop from it as I think that the features used create formality within the layout to make it look professional while still targeting and relating an informal target audience which is what I need to focus the most on doing.

Article Title: The title of my magazine on the left and the magazine on the right are very similar. They are both split in to two sections: the first being the name of the artist on the top and the second being the tagline below it. The name of the artist is in italics and a smaller, darker font than the main body of the title as it makes it seem more creative and interesting. The tagline of the title is done in a colour that fits the colour scheme, in both magazines shown, which ensures that all of the colours on the page complement each other – an important thing to consider when creating a magazine.


Pose: Both of the models on the magazine are posed in creative ways that don’t make them seem like they are boring artists. My model Josh is in a very open position; with his body facing forwards, his legs separated and one resting in a bent position and his arms loosely crossed. The openness of the pose means that the magazine is reflected in that way – it positively affects the way the magazine is perceived which means it will seem more appealing to a potential consumer. The way Justin Bieber is posed in the magazine on the right reflects the same values and attitudes.

Colour Scheme: Both of the magazines use bold colours within their colour scheme that are stereotypically masculine; the magazine on the right using red and the magazine on the left using green and blue. The bold colours keep the young target audience engaged and show that the magazine is not boring or monotonous within its articles. By keeping to one colour scheme, it means that the colours work well together and compliment each other so the magazine does not seem to be too overpowering in its presentation. A bold colour scheme also shows a lack of formality which is an important need within my target audience.

In what ways does my media product develop forms and conventions on real media products?

Headline Wording: I developed the creative language used in the InStyle magazine on the left to create my own headlines that fit on the cover of my pop music magazine. In the InStyle issue, I chose to use the ‘2012s New Skin Treatment’ headline to act as inspiration and to develop my work from. Then, I created the headline ‘Top 10 Artists To Look For In 2017’ for my front cover of my media product. By including the date in the magazine headlines, it allows the audience to see how current and up to date with trends the magazine is, which will appeal.

Images: On the InStyle magazine cover on the right, there is only one image, the main image, featured. I created the cover of my magazine by adding smaller images around the cover to develop on the crowded nature of pop music magazine covers (which I discovered in my research). Once I had developed this idea in my head, I then applied it to the creation of my magazine and added an imagine of my model Joshua Lund in the bottom left hand corner and an image of models Joshua Lund and Rhianna Burns in the top right hand corner.


Promotional Offer: Both of the magazines shown, my media product and the existing music magazine contents page, feature promotional offers giving away posters. On the already circulating magazine on the right, the poster layout is in a banner across the bottom of the contents page. To ensure that I could fit the main image of my model Rhianna Burns in and make it look as though it sat properly, I developed this idea and instead of a banner, I used a distorted rectangle shape to hold my promotional offer in the bottom left hand corner.

Contents: On the already existing magazine contents page on the right , the contents are listed on a box on the bottom left hand corner. I developed from this idea and put my contents listed down the left of the page. I thought that if it was positioned there on the contents page, it would be easier to read as people read from left to right which means it is the first nothing that the consumer sees. Also, I split my contents listing in to different sections to make it easier for the consumer to find the articles they want which would make my magazine more appealing.


Labeling: On the magazine on the right, the front of the magazine is labeled in detail so that the consumer knows where each section is. Instead of putting the whole magazine cover on to the contents page which would have taken up a lot of space, I developed from this idea and put images of my models, labeled with page numbers, instead. I think that this gave my magazine a bold and unique look as it is something that I have not seen in an existing pop magazine before.

Competitions and Offers: Like on the existing pop magazine on the right, my media product has a competition to win things that are targeted at my audience. The magazine on the right uses a box with a list inside to inform the consumer of these competitions but in my magazine, I developed this idea and chose to use a star shape instead to show urgency and that it is a one-time offer I believe the way I lay my competition announcement out is appropriate as it has bold colours and isn’t in a formal format which relates back to my younger audience.


Background: On the magazine on the right which features singer Nicki Minaj, the background is a solid peach colour so that the background does not overwhelm too much and so it relates back to femininity and target audience. When creating my background, I developed from this and related my the colour choice to ideas of masculinity and it would portray Josh as manly which is a key selling point when the target audience is primarily female. The use of these colours target the age groups increasing interest in boys and relationships. To make it more unique I used a brush tool rather than block colour.

Pose: The image of the singer Nicki Minaj on the right of the magazine comparison is large and almost in the centre of the magazine, veering more to the right hand side. I developed from this idea of a larger main image when creating my magazine and put a full sized image of my model, Joshua Lund, on the left hand side. The pose, bent arms and a serious facial expression (looking in to the camera with a closed mouth and a stern look) was also developed on from this magazine. Nicki has her arm bent in the air and looking in to the camera yet Josh has his arms bent, resting on his leg, which is how I developed from this idea.

In what ways does my media product challenge forms and conventions on real media products?

Background: The background of the music magazine cover that I created on the left challenges the idea of the conventions of this genre. It does this as most backgrounds are solid block colour, usually white, as to not distract the consumer from the headlines. I challenged this idea as my background was created with a light pink and purple watercolour brush tool (downloaded from Brusheezy). I don’t believe that this distracts the consumer from the headlines are they are pastel colours so I think I was successful.

Masthead: Commonly on pop music magazine covers, if the image overlaps the masthead, the masthead is usually brought to the back as to prioritise the image. This means that the masthead ends up laying being an image. I didn’t choose to do this on my own magazine, on the left, as the part of the main image that was covered, my model Olivia Richardson’s hair bun, was not a crucial part of the image. I decided from this that I was not going to bring the masthead to lie behind the image. This challenged traditional layout conventions.


Main image: On the magazine on the right which is an existing contents page from a Top Of The Pops issue, no main image is featured which is challenged on my own media product on the left. My pop music magazine contents page features six images in total, 5 smaller images and 1 main image of my model Rhianna Burns in the bottom right hand corner. I decided to challenge this because I though one larger main image would look better to my younger audience as it means that the contents page is more image based that text based.

Content: On the already existing magazine contents page on the right, there is a section for ‘Celebs and Gossip’ which I decided not to include. I decided to go against including celebrity gossip its own separate section in my contents page because it would make it appear as more of a lifestyle magazine like OK! and Woman magazine rather than like a pop music magazine. Although I have listed gossip implying headlines like ‘Who wore it best?’, I have not given them their own section on the3 contents page which is how I challenged it.


Images: On the magazine on the right which features singer Leona Lewis, there are 6 images within the double page spread rather than the single image featured on mine. It is common convention and form of a pop music magazine double page spread to feature more than one image but I decided to go against this and challenge it. I decided to do this because firstly, I wanted to make sure I had enough text for it to be worthwhile to the consumer so as I had to keep it font size 12, my text was limited and secondly, because when I experiment with the layout of multiple images, it looked too crowded / hard to read.

Main Image: The main image of the magazine on the right is integrated within the text while the main image of my own magazine on the left is kept to the left side of the magazine. I decided to challenge this convention because the way my model, Joshua Lund, is posing meant that if I were to cut the image out of the background and try to intertwine it within text, it wouldn’t look aesthetically correct because he is leaning on props (a concrete bench) which is crucial to the image. I believe the way my main image is lay out fits nicely and gives me the overall finished look that I wanted my double page spread to achieve.

Media Evaluation - Question One.

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Transcript of Media Evaluation - Question One.